The investigator requested partial support for the 16th International tRNA Workshop, held in 1995, at the university of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. This workshop has occurred every two to three years in countries all over the world. The 15th Workshop as held in France and the 17th will be in Japan. The program will have plenary lectures and poster presentations. Research on tRNA is flourishing with insights into structure coming from improvements in methodology. Conceptual breakthroughs in classifying aminoacyl tRNA synthetases coupled with structural understanding have yielded increased understanding of RNA protein interactions. Identity elements critical to fidelity of proteins synthesis are still being defined but exciting developments are not limited to the role of tRNAs in protein synthesis. This small but complex molecule participates in replication, reverse transcription, transposition, regulation of tRNA dependent genes and in the biosynthesis of non-protein macromolecule. One level of complexity is due to base modifications. Novel functions for tRNA modifications, including their importance as identity elements, in codon-anticodon interactions, and in reverse transcription are now apparent. tRNA and tRNA genes present a wealth of challenges as their biosynthesis and processing pathways include splicing, editing, and trimming reactions. Understanding tRNA structure and biogenesis will help to elucidate how tRNA mutants cause human mitochondrial disease, whether suppressor tRNAs can be effectively used for gene therapy and how to better engineer tRNA to modify them and/or their cellular hosts for production of natural and novel protein products. This meeting has been and will continue to be a meeting ground for enzymologist, structural biologists, cell biologists and molecular biologists. It serves as an important forum for bringing a diverse group together and the synergy is exciting to see. The meeting remains timely and vital because the final topic and speakers are determined by the organizing committee when the abstracts are received.